BY MadProfessah
Roger Federer SUI (1) vs. Novak Djokovic SRB (4). For the third consecutive year, Federer's path to the US Open title will go through Novak Djokovic, who was the last person to beat the Swiss great in a hard court semifinal, at the 2008 Australian Open. Federer beat Djokovic in Cincinnati on hard courts in two close sets just a few short weeks ago and knows how to get the job done in NYC. MadProfessah's pick: Federer in 4 sets.
Rafael Nadal ESP (3) vs. Juan Martín Del Potro ARG (6). This is Juan Martín's second Grand Slam semifinal this year and the 20-year-old is on a very steep learning curve. He has already shown that he can beat Nadal on hard courts, accomplishing that feat a few months ago in Canada. Nadal is not at 100% although he must be extremely motivated to get to his first career final in New York to cement his status as one of the all-time elite players by competing for (and completing) the career grand slam. MadProfessah's pick: del Potro in 5 sets.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
US Open 2009: Men's Semifinals PREVIEW
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39 comments:
I dunno Mad Professah. I think there is a good chance for DelPo to win his match with Rafa, but if it goes 5 sets I think Rafa will win, on superior fitness.
delPotro is the only reason I m gonna bother to tune to see this.
Though Nadal will be the best matchup for mr. Mono imo.
delPotro is on a roll here.
wonderful.
He is just playing lights out tennis. I'm a Rafa fan, but this is just fantastic to see. Looks like he has finally arrived, ready to play on the biggest stages.
Yeah, certainly not looking good at all for Rafa. He just can't figure out how to handle DelPotro right now. Brad Gilbert is right: Nadal needs to take some chances, get inside the baseline more and really push forward a bit more in response to DelPotro. What he's doing right now is obviously not working at all. He's had something like 5 chances to break DelPotro and hasn't been able to do it. DelPotro is 17-0 when winning first 2 sets. Nadal stats are not very good on winning after being down 2 sets. Think they said he's only done it 3 times in his career. In the threads yesterday it was said Nadal would likely prefer to play DelPotro to Djokovic and I totally disagreed about that. DelPotro is far more threatening to him right now than Djokovic. I feared this very match and it looks like it's turning out to be the unfortunate nightmare I had anticipated. I would much have preferred see him play anyone but DelPotro today.
Beth I just hope that if DelPo reaches the final, as seems probable, he plays at the same level.
Exactly, Helen W. Please let him have the steam and power to roll tomorrow night.....I hope he wins it, I really do. I feel bad that Nadal is taking a beating here. Poor Rafa. But at least he made the semis and regained his #2 ranking. He has to be glad for all of that.
yeah.
If he reaches the final here,
may he beat the mono.
He has to!
Hmmm....when are we going to discuss the Serena incident???? I'm dying to know what others think.
Good for Del Po. Nice to see someone other than Nadal or Federer break through.
Didn't see much of the match just the 3rd set, but from what I saw, Nadal's hard court bugoo boos came back. Everything WAY too short. The spin rolls right into Juan wheel house, but Rafa got zero depth today.
He'll be back.
Thanks for that, PeytonAllen!
Huge congrats to Juan Martin - thanks to $#$@$ football, I didn't see the match. From the comments here, he played a fantastic match, shut down Rafa like Tsonga did at the AO 08.
3-set victory bodes well for tomorrow, whoever the opponent. Last time I really watched Del Potro was last year, and his movement was not stellar. Sounds like he's worked real hard on his game - a very dangerous player, with all that height, weight of shot, and improving nerves.
Again, huge congrats! Rafa, I know you'll be back strong next year. Reaching semifinals was a very good result - I'd hoped for more, but just knew JMDP was going to be a big ask.
Craig, I'm hoping you get your wish!
who's is **not** watching...?
I'm not watching.
What a bizarre match this is already.
If Fed wins this first set serving 21% first serves, yikes.
It doesn't look as though either player is actually hitting the ball.
educate me guys;
why is it that the monogram seems to always anticipate the others so well ?
Is it a credit to him,
or
the others are so less-reactive?
I mean,
I see him move in the X
direction b4 they hit
the ball back to him,
and I am thinking,
no hit it in the -X, not to him...?
COME ON!!!!
What is this!
An umpire who has no notion of the game!
Norm Chryst is dead wrong. He overruled that serve late and Raja had no play on the ball.
Mary Carillo said she was surprised Raja didn't give Djoke the point.
huge rally. huuuge
the battle is getting hot.
now, I m loving this...
Nole leads 6-5 against the umpire&fed coalition.
Cograts to Djokovic for not losing his mind.
oh well. Fed wins and probably tomorrow. Joke gives up the break at 4-2. Fed doesn't give you much of a window but he blew his there.
I hope Novak stays in the game. Don't lose it now, even though these calls are really enough to make anyone lose it. He's still striking the ball pretty well.
Djoke seems to be hitting the ball back without causing the boy any problems specifically.
is that tennis? do you win nada with that ?
Peyton you wanted to see if Djoke would take his cut at Raja in a Slam.
Guess not.
Turning his back to Raja and bending over at the net seemed quite an appropriate gesture given his overall performance.
you are speaking in tongues now craig?
what does that mean ? :)
bleh. rusty. boring.
wow. i take that back suddenly.
unbelievable!
(at least there was a bit of magic at the end)
g'nite, folks!
Craig,
Before I address Djok I'll just take my hat off to Fed. 18 of the last 19 slam Finals. It's absurd. I find it boring. But he's brilliant to watch. You can't deny when he's on his A game which he was today he's great. He'll win tomorrow. I'd love to see JDP pull off the upset, the ATP needs it. I don't find the Tiger Woods "look at his brilliance, it's what makes the PGA tour" great, nor do I find Roger's level of dominance helpful to my ATP interest. But, many do and good for them.
You have to laugh at his level of precision/luck today, hitting so many lines, and getting that net bounce when he broke to win the 2nd set. But, he chased it down. You make your own luck.
Fed wins tomorrow in 3 sets and really at this point let's all be honest and admit he's going to go on to win 20-21 of these. Much like Bolt redefining how fast a human can go, Fed is going to embarrass the men's tour for a few more years.
What's sad for Djok who has worked so hard to repair his image is he played well. But, Fed just doesnt give things away in tight situations. He makes you earn it. I thought Nole fought, but you can't play a sloppy game and give a first set break back. 5-2 would've looked pretty good.
Djok was horrible on his passing shots today and hit too many errors but he was strong.
It was a point here and there. I guess you take solace in the fact you hung with Fed at his level, but then when you lose in straights what's there to be happy about?
He needs to keep working. Don't lose heart as he did after Madrid.
I think the Tour needs a DP win tomorrow. But, this record has been stuck for a while. Again I find it too much to really appreciate it, but that's just me.
For the record, my prediction for Federer's final GS total is 21 (plus a singles Gold medal).
Can we have an open thread to talk about the Serena situation??
US OPEN fines Serena $10k for tirade...
http://sports.yahoo.com/ten/news?slug=ap-usopen-swilliams&prov=ap&type=lgns
Is no one going to have the courage to address BamBam's question??
Talk About Serena Open Thread
Dan Scarlett, the Open Thread link I posted is open for discussion of bambam's question.
No. It's not just you, PeytonAllen.
I'm sorry. The rest of the tourney is just a *yawn* for me. Jaw-cracking, even.
I know what's gonna happen with DelPo tomorrow. Tennis, it's all about matchups...
(shakes head)
I'm sorry. The rest of the tourney is just a *yawn* for me. Jaw-cracking, even.
I know what's gonna happen with DelPo tomorrow. Tennis, it's all about matchups...
I started losing interest in the USO when Murray lost. That messed up the last of my dream QFs (Murray/Del Potro and Roddick/Djokovic) and then the rains came and messed with Nadal and after that I was like, "whatever". Now we have yet another boring final with Federer and new finalist Del Potro. Gee, I wonder who's gonna win that one? /snooze button
I feel the women really shined this USO. I think I watched more women's matches than men's.
Djokovic got screwed with bad calls all match long. Norm Chryst's umpiring was disgraceful. Think maybe the USTA badly wants Roger to win his record sixth title here?
Very happy for Kim Clijsters. I don't think it reflects badly on WTA any more than if Wozniacki had won. (as some twitter folks have said)
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